Highlands Sanctuary, Inc. is a nonprofit organization which operates under the dba (doing business as) of The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. The Arc of Appalachia has been in operation since 1995, working to create and steward nature preserves in the forested Appalachian counties of southern Ohio. In 2016, The Arc of Appalachia had completed the protection of 4268 acres in 15 preserve regions.
The Arc of Appalachia's mission is to protect the rich diversity of life of America's Great Eastern Temperate Forest, as the large biome expresses itself in the southern Ohio region. The Arc of Appalachia's land stewardship practices are guided by the following goals: to maximize the numbers of plants and animals native to the protected ecosystems, restore balance to the natural communities, and preserve natural beauty for visitors to enjoy on public hiking trails. The Arc of Appalachia is also an educational organization, offering to the public guided hikes, workshops, nature retreats, and nature literacy courses. The organization is funded primarily by private donations. The Arc of Appalachia's land acquisition is further enhanced through grant funding, especially through the Clean Ohio grant program.
The oldest preserve in the Arc of Appalachia's preserve system is the Highlands Nature Sanctuary in Highland County, Ohio and Ross County, Ohio. The Highlands Nature Sanctuary is 2200 acres in size and exists to protect the Rocky Fork Gorge, defined as lower ten mile run of the Rocky Fork Creek, beginning at the creek's exit at the Rocky Fork State Park dam, and ending with the creek's confluence with Paint Creek just downstream of the Paint Creek Reservoir dam. The lower Rocky Fork cuts through a dolomite gorge which presents a classic karst landscape of grottos, vertical rock walls and canyons, sinkholes, seeps and springs. Among its visitor services, The Highlands Nature Sanctuary provides hiking trails to the public on weekends from spring through fall at the Appalachian Forest Museum, its main visitor hub.
In addition to its own preserves, the Arc of Appalachia is in contract with the Ohio History Connection to manage two Ohio state memorials, Serpent Mound and Fort Hill. [1] [2] [3] . Fort Hill is a 1300-acre preserve protecting one of the oldest and largest mature forests in the state. It also preserves a large ridgetop walled-enclosure built by the American Indian Hopewell Culture 2000 years ago, a culture responsible for impressively large ancient ceremonial complexes built primarily of earth in southern Ohio, Serpent Mound is an internationally renowned archaeological site which also protects an ancient American Indian earthworks, an accurately portrayed earthen serpent, resting on a flat ridgetop which overlooks Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County. Its winding massive sinews span 1348 feet.
Preserving ancient earthworks, especially those of the Hopewell Culture, surrounded by larger, natural areas is a secondary mission of the Arc of Appalachia. The Arc of Appalachia, with other non-profit partners, has purchased and saved Junction Earthworks and Spruce Hill Earthworks near Chillicothe, Ohio, and has expanded the land holdings in the Fort Hill region by 200 acres. The Arc of Appalachia is currently endeavoring to expand Junction Earthwork through the purchase of an adjacent 73-acre earthworks complex known as Steel Earthworks, working in conjunction with The Archaeological Conservancy. Another ongoing project is to raise funds for the protection of Glenford Fort Earthworks in Perry County, a stone ridgetop enclosure surrounded by 65 acres of Appalachian forest.
The Arc of Appalachia preserves provide refuge for dozens of state threatened and endangered plants and animals, and several state-imperiled natural communities. In addition to its forest and archaeological preserves, the Arc of Appalachia maintains several native prairies within its holdings.
The Arc of Appalachia has the following preserves open for public visitation: Highlands Nature Sanctuary, Fort Hill, Serpent Mound, Junction Earthworks, Rock Run, Ohio Hanging Rock, Kamama Prairie, Plum Run Prairie, Chaparral Prairie, Ohio River Bluffs, Gladys Riley Golden Star Lily Preserve, Samson/Obrist Woods, Spruce Hill Earthworks, Quiverheart Gorge, and Chalet Nivale, with additional preserve trail systems in the planning and development phase. [4]
Preserves in the Arc of Appalachia system owned by Highlands Sanctuary [5]
Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,477. Its county seat and largest village is West Union. The county is named after John Adams, the second President of the United States.
Burke County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 87,570. Its county seat is Morganton.
The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society but a widely dispersed set of populations connected by a common network of trade routes.
The Cullasaja River is a short river located entirely in Macon County, North Carolina. It is a tributary of the Little Tennessee River into which it flows near the county seat of Franklin.
The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-feet-long (411 m), three-feet-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. It was built on what is known as the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. The mound is the largest serpent effigy known in the world.
Edge of Appalachia Preserve, also known as Richard and Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve System or simply The Edge, is a series of ten adjacent nature preserves located along the Appalachian Escarpment in Adams County, Ohio. Four of the ten preserves, Lynx Prairie, Buzzardroost Rock, Red Rock and The Wilderness, are National Natural Landmarks. The Preserve is owned and operated by The Nature Conservancy and Cincinnati Museum Center. It is the largest privately owned nature preserve in Ohio.
The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a range that run from Nova Scotia in Canada to Alabama in the United States.
The Potomac Highlands of West Virginia centers on five West Virginian counties in the upper Potomac River watershed in the western portion of the state's Eastern Panhandle, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Because of geographical proximity, similar topography and landscapes, and shared culture and history, the Potomac Highlands region also includes Pocahontas, Randolph, and Tucker counties, even though they are in the Monongahela River or New River watersheds and not that of the Potomac River.
The Nantahala National Forest is the largest of the four national forests in North Carolina, lying in the mountains and valleys of western North Carolina. The Nantahala is the second wettest region in the country, after the Pacific Northwest. Due to its environmental importance and historical ties with the Cherokee, the forest was officially established on January 29, 1920, by President Woodrow Wilson. The word "Nantahala" is a Cherokee derived, meaning "Land of the Noonday Sun." In some spots, the sun reaches the floors of the deep gorges of the forest only when it is high overhead at midday. This was part of the homeland of the historic Cherokee and their indigenous ancestors, who have occupied the region for thousands of years.
The Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks are a group of 20 metropolitan parks in and around Columbus, Ohio. They are officially organized into the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District. The Metro Parks system was organized in 1945 under Ohio Revised Code Section 1545 as a separate political division of the state of Ohio. The Metro Parks are overseen by a Board of Park Commissioners consisting of three citizens appointed to three-year terms without compensation by the Judge of the Probate Court of Franklin County, Ohio. The Board in turn appoints an Executive Director responsible for operations and management of the parks.
North Fork Mountain is a quartzite-capped mountain ridge in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province of the Allegheny Mountains, also known as the High Alleghenies or Potomac Highlands, of eastern West Virginia. Kile Knob, at 4,588 feet, is the mountain's highest point, and Panther Knob and Pike Knob are nearly as high.
Appalachian Ohio is a bioregion and political unit in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, characterized by the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau. The Appalachian Regional Commission defines the region as consisting of thirty-two counties. This region roughly overlaps with the Appalachian mixed-mesophytic forests, which begin in southeast Ohio and southwest Pennsylvania and continue south to Georgia and Alabama. The mixed-mesophytic forest is found only in Central and Southern Appalachia and eastern/central China. It is one of the most biodiverse temperate forests in the world.
In archaeology, earthworks are artificial changes in land level, typically made from piles of artificially placed or sculpted rocks and soil. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features, or they can show features beneath the surface.
Paint Creek State Park is a 5,652-acre (2,287 ha) public recreation area located in Highland and Ross counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The state park's central feature is a reservoir, 1,148-acre (465 ha) Paint Creek Lake, which was created by the damming of Paint Creek. Construction on the dam started in 1967, and Paint Creek State Park was opened in 1972.
Deer Lick Nature Sanctuary is a protected forest and gorge in Cattaraugus County, New York. The preserve is within Zoar Valley near Gowanda, and is managed by The Nature Conservancy.
Lynx Prairie is a 52-acre (210,000 m2) nature preserve located in Adams County, Ohio, United States, near the community of Lynx. The preserve features a group of cedar glades which harbor rare prairie species, surrounded by forests on all sides.
Indian Mound Reserve is a public country park near the village of Cedarville, Ohio, United States. Named for two different earthworks within its bounds — the Williamson Mound and the Pollock Works — the park straddles Massies Creek as it flows through a small canyon.
Fort Hill State Memorial is a Native American earthwork located in Highland County, Ohio, United States. Built by the Hopewell culture, it is maintained by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System and the Ohio History Connection.
